Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner

The last championship for a Philly team was 25 years ago. That was the longest drought for any city with teams in all four major sports. And now it's finally over!!!!! I'll just let some pictures tell you how great this night is.




And of course, Ally's favorite part of watching the games with us, "The Nat" as she calls him.


And now back to our regularly scheduled blogging of Karen posting pictures of cute stuff Ally does.

Bad calls even out

I was frustrated watching game 3 last night, Moyer makes a diving throw to first to get the runner out but the ump misses it costing the Phillies at least one run. They ended up winning so I guess it turned out ok.

The missed call goes the Phillies way tonight, with the 3rd base ump missing the prostate exam Longoria gave Rollins with his glove that cost the Rays one run.


Howard was as good in this game as he was bad in the first two games, no strike outs, 3 hits, 2 HR and 5 RBI.


With Hamels pitching at home, a 3 games to 1 lead, and the bats finally warming up, I'm feeling pretty good about tomorrow night right about now.

Superbowl vs World Series

The difference between the Superbowl and the World Series, one makes me nervous for a few hours one night, one makes me nervous for possibly about a week and a half.

But thanks to this guy:


and this guy:


And no thanks to this guy:


The Phillies are one game closer. All I can say is:

http://www.the700level.com/2008/10/why-cant-us-how.html

UPDATE: After game two they are still only one game closer.

Maize y Calabazas

Chris took us to the above corn maze in Pasco on Saturday. We wandered around and around in circles for quite awhile (even after being given "directions") and didn't seem to get anywhere very fast, but what else should I have expected from a politically-themed maze? Around checkpoint 3 we ran into some nice people with small children and a wagon, so Ally got to ride while we finished the long journey to checkpoints 8 and 10. I don't know how we missed 4-7 and 9, but I feel more than satisfied knowing we made it to the end before passing out from exhaustion.
After the maze, we took a tractor hayride through the pumpkin patch. We didn't find the Great Pumpkin, but we did see a whole bunch of mini-cows go zipping by. Ally really wanted to ride those cows. You should check out the rest of our pictures (click here) to see what I'm talking about. Ally also got to chase a cat, see more farm animals, and sit on lots of pumpkins. If her dancing career doesn't take off, she can always become a farmer.













Here's Ally rocking out with the pumpkins.

This just in . . .

The Phillies are going to

the World Series!
(Too bad Chris is not.)

APB: Missing Turtle Alert

This is the costume Ally was going to wear for Halloween. I bought one just like this a year ago 'cause we knew Ally would look so cute walking around like a big Mildred. Alas, I have gone through 99% of our boxes and have not found it. I fear it may have run off during the move-- along with our industrial-sized tub of butt cream. I'm pretty sure we've located all our other odds and ends, but I sure am bummed about the turtle. On the positive side of things, at least our real turtle made the cross-country trip without incident. Now we just need a different costume idea for Ally, and Halloween is fast approaching. Any great ideas?

Ask, and ye shall receive. . . We might already have a solution. Our plumber just showed up to replace a toilet and faucet, change out some rusty nipples, and give me some new female parts. (Don't ask, I didn't understand it either. It's something to do with galvenizationitis? He just asked his assistant for a nipple extractor. Hilarious! Anyway, back to the original topic . . .)Okay, so what does a plumber have to do with Halloween? Nothing, unless he happens to be from ActionMan Plumbing. This is the picture on his truck. Dean (the plumber) looks just like the picture, except he doesn't wear a cape to work. I asked him if he ever will, and he said he has thought about having his mom make him one. Maybe his mom can make Ally one too while she's at it. Then we can have our very own little superhero plumber for Halloween-- complete with the letter "A" on her chest. I just don't know if it's safe to give Ally a wrench.

It's State Fair Time!

Washington is such a big state that it takes three fairs to contain all of it's giant produce and nicely groomed livestock. So on friday we took a trip up to Yakima for the Central Washington State Fair.



























Ally had a great time, with lots of firsts. Her first time banging on a piece of "art" made of scrap metal:














She saw what a bigger version of Mildred looks like up close:














She had her first experience playing in a corn bin:


And she got to pet her first horse (not pictured) and got to see some cows up close too. She wanted to give them kisses but we thought maybe that wasn't such a good idea so she had to settle for kissing a poster of a cow.












No trip to the fair is complete without seeing some giant pumpkins.












But I think her favorite part of the fair was the many hand washing stations. We had to make a stop at each one so she could get clean. No chance of catching any bug from the farm animals for her. Maybe the makings of a future epidemiologist?

Quick Update From the Nuthouse(s)

While I sit downstairs typing this entry, my ears are absorbing some beautiful sounds from above: The loud clomping of Ally's feet as she scurries back and forth across the living room, and running water and the clanking of pots as Chris washes the dishes. The simplest things can make a mother happy. Speaking of me, I don't think I've put a picture of me up on the blog yet. I guess it's about time to load one in to prove I haven't changed much. Here are Ally and I two weeks ago at a local festival--Christ the King SausageFest.


We have been quite busy with the new house. We spend more and more time here and have moved more and more things over (including this computer), but we still haven't officially moved in. We are holding out hope that our flooring will magically arrive this coming week, then we'll be able to better schedule "the big move" and put everything in its proper place (and get everything under one roof again). Our furniture is still at the townhouse, so Ally is having to share her little beanbag chair with Daddy when we watch TV.

This past weekend we traded in the boxes and dust of moving for the dirt, animals, and hand sanitizer of the Central Washington State Fair. Our pictures of the trip are conveniently located at the other house, so I think I'll make Chris blog about Ally's newest experiences tomorrow. I remember she enjoyed the fair so much that she forgot to have any breakdowns, but I need the pictures to remind me of exactly what we looked at all day.